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Recast
Recast is the term used popularly within the BJD community to refer to counterfeit dolls (and doll parts). Counterfeit dolls are often made (but may not always be) of lower quality than the original. For instance, shrinkage is a known issue with these types of dolls due to the nature of how they are made. There is also some debate about the potential toxicity of the materials used to create recasts. How are recasts created? Most often, a counterfeiter (or recaster) will get a hold of an already made doll from the legitimate company (either straight from the company without their knowledge, secondhand, or be given one by a third party), and use that doll’s parts to create molds to cast new dolls with and sell them for a fraction of the price of the legitimate version. Some counterfeiters are even able to get a hold of the master molds—sometimes because they work for the original doll company, or because they work for the casting company the doll maker uses. Since they do not need to spend time creating the original doll or marketing it (dolls that are chosen for counterfeiting are usually already highly sought after within the doll community), counterfeiters are able to get away with much lower prices. They are also believed to use much cheaper quality resin to cast their dolls, which could also account for their pricing. How do I avoid recasts? Counterfeit dolls can be difficult to avoid due to the fact that counterfeiters are getting better at making copies of dolls and basic search results for BJDs often pull up counterfeiter shops and websites. Here’s a few things that can help make the process of avoiding them a little easier! * First and foremost, avoid purchasing dolls on the likes of eBay, Amazon, Taobao, AliExpress, Wish, and other sites like them unless you are absolutely sure of the legitimacy of the product being sold. ** If a third-party seller claims to be selling brand new products, you can send a message to the original company the doll was made by if they are an official dealer. Otherwise, you can ask other doll hobbyists on BJD-centric social media groups or on the forum Den of Angels. * Be reasonably cautious when purchasing dolls secondhand. ** Find out the doll’s provenance history (either by asking the seller or looking through your own research). ** Request detail photos from the seller (especially if you have a good idea of what to look for in a recast). ** Ask for the doll (or parts) to be photographed with a piece of paper with your choice of text handwritten on it (things like Seller’s username and the current date is a popular choice). This is good habit to get into for buying products secondhand in general to make sure the seller actually has the item on hand to sell. ** Compare any images of the CoAs or doll boxes to what is offered by the legitimate company. Known Quality Issues Due to the nature of counterfeiting products, recast versions of dolls and doll parts can arrive with a variety of different issues that effect the overall quality of the doll. * Shrinkage - Resin itself has the tendency to shrink during the casting process. This shrinking can become more and more dramatic each time a copy of a copy is created. Due to how recasts are created, this tends to be an unavoidable quality issue. Dramatic shrinkage can cause thin spots on a doll to be more prone to breakage than would be normal, as well as make clothing and accessories that may have been made for that size of doll not fit correctly. There can also be a loss of detail in the sculpting itself (such as sculpted on veins, fine wrinkle lines, finger and toe nail detailing and so on). * Low quality resin - Due to how cheap counterfeit dolls are, it is reasonable to believe they are using lower quality material to create the dolls out of (and counterfeiters may even add filler to make their supply of resin to last longer). This can lead a doll’s parts to be potentially brittle and therefore much more easily breakable than its legitimate counterpart. There is also no telling how safe the resin may be to one’s health (resin dust in higher quality dolls is already toxic to breathe in to begin with). * Packing material - Some counterfeiters do not sufficiently package their products when getting them ready to ship to the buyer. While most legitimate companies use foam inserts, bubble wrap/foam, doll pillows, and sturdy company boxes within a shipping box to protect the doll while it is in transit, plenty of counterfeiters may put a doll in a plastic bag in a shipping box full of shipping peanuts, and send the item on its way. * Residues left on doll - Counterfeit dolls may arrive with some sort of residue on them. Sometimes it can be from the casting process (such as mold release), or even possibly resin dust left on them from any sanding that needed to be done to the doll after taking out of its mold. Even in high quality dolls, resin dust is toxic to the body if breathed in/ingested. External Links * Ningyo BINGO Podcast - Episode 21: Recasts * Information about recast BJDs - Den of Angels Wiki page * BJD Trademarks & Recasts - My Dolly Adventures blog post * Difference between Original & Recast Doll - Luts FAQ post * Luts Kid Delf: Original vs. Recast - Blog post Luts FAQ links to (in Korean) Category:Terms Category:General Information Category:Counterfeit